Appendix 3

Chairperson:	Ron Wiseman	Observers:	.
Members Present	Members Absent	Martine Besnainou, France	Dee Wiseman, USA
Rutger Coucke	Anita Noguera	Arnost Honig, Czech Republic	Freddy Meuleman, Belgium
Sheona Webster	Donna MacTavish	Henry Avermeulen, Netherlands	.

The meeting was called to order by chairman, Ron Wiseman, at 08:14. Welcoming remarks were presented by Ron which included conveyance of apologizes from Anita and Donna for their absence.

Minutes of the 1998 Subcommittee meeting in Venice, Italy stood as recorded as no errors or adjustments were indicated. The items discussed were:

The Subcommittee undertook a major effort to contact all CIA member nation Chief Observers last spring in order to develop, for the first time, a complete and current directory. Effort was done by e-mail, fax, and/or postal mail with over an 80% response. Ron developed the current listing and has posted it to the SC web page for downloading. In the last month, efforts were made by e-mail and fax, as well as contact with CIA Delegates at this meeting, to verify the data for it’s currency for this year.

Future Action: Listing will continue to be updated regularly and updates posted to the web page.

Sheona developed a preliminary listing of ballooning events throughout the World that use observers and occur repeatedly on a regular basis. A short discussion on the feasibility of developing and keeping this list since many web sites are starting to list events. It was decided to continue with this for another year to see if it is a worthwhile to put on the web page for reference. Suggestion that it could be setup as a self-maintenance listing by the event organizers themselves. The format Sheona set up was discussed, with minor changes suggested.

Future Action: Act upon this item at next year’s meeting.

Ron reviewed the previous discussion of last fall over the e-mail concerning the communication the Observer SC received in response to the treatment of observers at last year’s European Championships. It was agreed that the SC believed those problems were probably a one-time occurrence, but pointed out the need to make known that certain minimum requirements should reasonably be expected at events for observers and officials. Ron suggested, that upon research of the EPAS documents, the best place to address this issue is in the Event Planning Guide, rather than the Organizer’s Agreement or the Application Procedure. After discussion, wording was created to address what observers and officials might expect for housing, meal, and transportation minimum requirements that could be inserted into the Event Planning Guide to better define expectations.

Future Action: Ron will forward the wording to EPAS for consideration to insert in their document.

Ron reported on the first year of the program. To-date, there are 51 observers from 13 countries registered in the ‘Registry of International Observers’. Fourteen have qualified by taking the proficiency evaluation and 37 by experience. Currently there are nine more in the process of registering, with promises received at the meeting of some 11-14 more applications coming shortly, including 3 more countries. A list of those in the ‘Registry’ is on the web page with the option to download the entire document listed by country and name with contact information. The documents on the web page are generally updated twice monthly if changes occur. Discussion ensued concerning an adjustment of the requirements for AX Class registrants, handling situations where registrants move from country to country, recognizing events that have no task flown, and the expansion of the program to include categories for AA Class observing and Record observing. Ron will continue as Registrar for the coming year.

Future Action: Ron will develop the IOR to include the new categories, and act upon this item at next year’s meeting.

Agreement: The SC agreed to the following: The IOR program have the ‘temporary’ status removed and be made on-going. A valid event for listing as experience is one where the observer has completed one flight in the event. Observers must have participated at a minimum of one event from outside the country of application. Documentation of experience is not mandatory (but recommended), however experience must be verified by a third party. The requirements for AX Class be modified by:

For CIA Proficiency Certificate option -- drop this option for qualification

For Evaluation option -- add a minimum of four events observed within the previous four years with one international-regional-national event.

For the Experience option -- reduce by one the Category One events from two to one, increase by one the international-regional-national events from four to five.

A category for registering as AA observers and a category for registering as Record observers be added to the program, and appropriate qualifications be developed.

Through the year, Ron worked with Alex Nagorski to set up the SC web page. It is now almost completed, and Alex is using it as a ‘model’ for setting up web pages for the other subcommittees. Alex has requested a few pictures of observers at work to add to the page. Rutger suggested a search of other ballooning web pages for appropriate pictures to use if permission can be obtained. The web page includes a summary listing of the ‘Registry of International Observers’, plus listing of SC documents that can be downloaded.

Future Action: Ron will continue to work with Alex to complete the web page and update the documents listed.

The SC needs to organize it’s documentation which now consists of a number of individual documents into a series of ‘Model’ documents for use by member nations to use in developing, enhancing, and improving their observer corps. Current documents will be upgraded, and new sections added to complete the documentation. Discussion ensued concerning the Observer Log that Sheona developed, the Observer Report Sheet and Supplemental that Rutger has been working on, a Gas Balloon Report Sheet presented by Martine, and the Training Curriculum that Donna developed. The following documents will result:

‘Model’ Observer Handbook: It needs to revised and upgraded, dropping some appendixes, and adding the Usual and Unusual Intersections as an appendix.

‘Model’ Observer Glossary: It needs to be reviewed for any changes, addition, deletions.

‘Model’ Observer Forms: This document needs to be put together to include a sample observer log, observer checklist, observer application, report sheet, supplemental sheet, and declaration sheet.

‘Model’ Training Curriculum: The document needs to be reviewed for any improvements as it was received just prior to the meeting from Donna.

Future Action: Documents will be assigned to the SC for completion to be presented for review at next year’s meeting.

Since the SC has resolved it’s original goals that were put forth in the Mission statement when it was created 7 years ago, a revision of the Internal Regulations 6.3.6.1 was necessary. Ron presented a new Mission and Responsibilities statement that focused on the data gathering functions of competition events and record attempt flights, rather than ‘observers’. Discussion was positive since there seems to be a move away from using observers by name and instead really only increasing the number of officials to do the job, or using other names, such as competition judges, to get around dealing with observers. Also the area of debriefing was a concern as many observers are involved in both and that area of the scoring team function seems to be more closely related to observers than senior officials.

Future Action: None needed.

Agreement: The SC agreed to present the new Mission statement for adoption by the Plenary.

The Sporting Code in Section 8 allows for Proficiency Certificates to be presented by a CIA member’s NAC for outstanding achievement, as defined by the CIA, in any area of ballooning. To the best of our knowledge, there has never been any minimum requirements established for the certificates, nor any certificates issued in the area of observing or debriefing. Ron inquired if there was an interest, or need, for the SC to become involved in setting forth minimum requirements to have on file before any attempt to issue these certificates were made. Short discussion followed resulting in a general non-interest in the subject at this time.

Future Action: Item tabled for possible future consideration.

Ron reviewed the current policy for selecting observers at Category One events. Currently, the IOR does not affect the selection of observers for these events, however Ron said he had sent a note to the Chief Observer of this year’s World’s in Austria reminding him of the advantage to look kindly upon ‘Registered’ status in observers when considering applicants. Those observers would have demonstrated a higher level of knowledge and personal traits favorable in a good observer, as well as a recommendation from their Chief Observers. This could make his duties at the World’s less stressed knowing he would have a higher quality staff to depend upon. With the success of the IOR this year, a way to incorporate the ‘Registered’ status of an observer into the selection criteria needs to be studied for handling at next year’s meeting -- well before the next World’s to be held in 2002 in France.

Future Action: Act upon this item at next year’s meeting.

The Scoring WG is continuing development of a Competitor’s Handbook. Donna reviewed the chapters currently completed and determined it appears to be mainly for use by event directors new to competition. Donna presented a half page of information concerning organization of the scoring team that would be helpful. Ron verified with Masashi Kakuda, the author, that he would welcome and consider any suggestions the SC might have.

Future Action: Review the current version available on the CIA web site, and present any suggestions to Masashi.

This proposal was not available for discussion at the SC meeting. It is a proposal to develop a competition format for the World Air Games that is more conducive to the media reporting the event and understandable by the viewers that allows for instant results. It does not use observers but increases the official staff enough to cover the measuring of markers in a limited scoring areas near the target accessible to the media coverage. (Note: At the Plenary session in the following days, extensive discussion was held on the format and the use of observers for the WAG in 2001. The end result was the new competition format being rejected on vote, and the use of observers for the WAG retained.)

Future Action: None needed, but awareness of the possibility this subject may be considered in the future again.

A proposal by J. C. Weber to create a ranked listing of competitors worldwide for public relations and media a tool. The list is not proposed for event selection or qualification procedures. It was determined this proposal had no impact upon the SC.

Future Action: None needed.

Observer Report Sheets: There was a request for making room for blank areas under the headings on the ‘Model’ Observer Report Sheet to allow countries to insert the headings in their local language for easier understanding by pilots. After discussion, it was suggested that an entire separate Report Sheet be printed by the organizer in the local language for use as an interpretation tool for the pilots. This suggestion will be included in the instructions. A Report Sheet developed for AA ballooning events was received from Martine for consideration to add to the ‘Model’ Forms document.

Application Form: A request for developing an observer application form for inclusion in the "Model’ Forms document was received. It will be considered.

International Observer Registration program: A request for considering pilot experience as a way to satisfy the requirements was received. A short discussion resulted in an unfavorable view by the SC for this option, however it will be opened for discussion at a later date by members through the e-mail.

Debriefing: A request for developing a training document/curriculum for debriefers was received. Due to shortness of time, discussion was deferred until a later date.

Ron Wiseman was re-appointed as Chairman of the Subcommittee for the next year. He recommended the following people to serve as members for the next year: Rutger Coucke from the Netherlands, Anita Noguera from Spain, and Sheona Webster from Australia to continue on the Subcommittee, and Martine Besnainou from France as a new member to the Subcommittee.

The following recommendations from the Observer SC to be presented to the Plenary Session were developed.

A. International Observer Registration program.

Based on the success of the program in the first year of existence, the Observer Subcommittee recommends the following:

1. The program have the ‘temporary’ status removed and be accepted as an on-going program.
2. The program be enhanced by adding a registration category for observers of AA Class events and a category for observers of Record attempts.

B. Documents.

Based upon the accomplishments of the Observer Subcommittee in the last seven years in achieving it’s original responsibilities, the Observer Subcommittee recommends replacing the Missions and Responsibilities paragraph of the Internal Regulations (I.R. 6.3.6.1) with the following:

6.3.6.1 Missions and Responsibilities

In order to keep level with the constantly advancing standards of competition flying and record making flights world-wide, it is of vital importance that the data gathering functions of competition scoring (i.e. observing, measuring, and debriefing) and record achieving (i.e. recording, measuring, and witnessing) be equally improved world-wide. To achieve this goal, the Observer Subcommittee shall address the following:

- To maintain a listing of Chief Observers of the member nations to encourage the exchange of ideas and information.

- To develop a ‘Model’ Training curriculum as a basis for member nations to use in developing and improving their observer corp.

- To develop a set of ‘Model’ Documents and Forms as a basis for the member nations to use in enhancing their observer corp.

- To assemble an Observer Handbook for observers involved in record-setting flight attempts.

- To develop a Registration program for AX Class, AA Class, and Record observers.

- To create and maintain a ‘Registry of International Observers’ who successfully qualify through the Registration program.

- To advise and respond to observing issues as requested by the CIA members.

- To prepare for the changing role of data gathering in the constantly evolving future of competition ballooning.

There being no further business brought before the Subcommittee, the meeting was adjourned at 13:51.

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